Unbeknownst to most parents,
America’s public schools are
teaching their children to use
mindfulness meditation
(Eastern-style meditation or
TM). In a New York Times
article titled “In the
Classroom, a New Focus on
Quieting the Mind,” elementary
children in an Oakland,
California school are promised
peace and loving-kindness if
they will learn to meditate.

An eleven-year-old explains,
“I was losing at baseball, and I
was about to throw a bat . . .
The mindfulness really helped.”1
While that may sound like a
great thing to a lot of
teachers, the article
acknowledges where this comes
from:

"As summer looms,
students at dozens of
schools across the country
are trying hard to be in the
present moment. This is what
is known as mindfulness
training, in which
stress-reducing techniques
drawn from Buddhist
meditation are wedged
between reading and spelling
tests."2

A whole new generation of
children is being drawn into New
Age/New Spirituality, and it is
happening right under their
parents’ noses. While some of us
grieve the real-world
consequences of this cultural
revolution, a rising chorus of
voices are now demanding
acceptance of today’s paradigm
shift.

Their positive spin inspires
visions of an evolved humanity
that is bursting out of the
old shackles of Christian
morality, traditional
guidelines, and parental
restraints. This new
civilization reminds me of
Isaiah’s ancient warning: “And
the people shall be oppressed,
every one by another, and every
one by his neighbor: the child
shall behave himself proudly
[insolently] against the ancient
[the elder], and the base
against the honorable” (Isaiah
3:5).

The promise from the New Age
is world peace, but it’s not
God’s kind of peace; thus,
it is not a true and lasting
peace! As enticing counterfeits
develop, they will surely widen
divisions among those who call
themselves by the name of
Christ. While the world calls
for unity at any cost (a
whatever it takes approach), His
people can’t conform to its
ways, visions, hopes, or dreams.
“Think not that I am come to
send peace on earth: I came not
to send peace, but a sword”
(Matthew 10:34).

On the other hand, our Lord
has promised peace, strength,
and eternal hope to all who
know, trust, and follow Him:

"Peace
I leave with you, my peace I
give unto you: not as the
world giveth, give I unto
you. Let not your heart be
troubled, neither let it be
afraid."(John
14:27)

But those who heed
counterfeit promises and seek
spiritual favors from occult
sources become blind to His
grace. Deceptions will multiply,
and sadly, children are
deception’s biggest targets. In
this precarious situation in
which we find ourselves, we
should remember the Bible’s
warnings:

"Beware
lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain
deceit, after the tradition
of men, after the rudiments
of the world, and not after
Christ." (Colossians
2:8)